Track-sanding apparatus



(No Model.) 7

C. W. SHERBURNE. TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

. marl/l4 W No. 481,594. Patented Aug. 30, 1892.

\A/ITNESSES.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

CHARLES W. SHERBURNE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TRACK-SAN DING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,594, dated August 30, 1892. Application filed July 5, 1892. Serial No. 438,869. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that I, CHARLES W.SHERBURNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Locomotive Track-San ding Apparatus, of which the following, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description, sufficient to enable one skilled in the art to make and use this invention without other invention upon his part.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the operative parts of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a transverse section. Fig. 3 is a modified form of the same.

Like letters represent like parts in all the figures.

Locomotives carry on top of the boiler what is called a sand-box, from which a pipe extends down nearly to the track and in front of the driving-wheels, and sand from the sandbox passes down this pipe and is deposited on the track in front of the wheels. It is desirable to have the means of applying a very small quantity of sand continuously, and also of increasing this quantity as desired, and it is not considered goodpolicy to rely entirely upon gravity for presenting the sand to the nozzle of the sandpipe.

Various appliances have been introduced into the art for the purpose'of feeding the sand from the sand-box to the nozzle in front of the driving-wheelsin more or less controllable quantities, and this has been done by the aid of a machine introduced into the length of the sand-pipe and adapted to be operated in picking up and sending forward the sand for use by steam, or more usually and preferably by air derived from the air-supply of the air-brake. It often happens with regard to these instruments that it is considered desirable to put them in places where they will stand more or less inclined tothe horizontal, and when so placed the conditions under which the current of air is projected upon the sand are changed, and it is desirable that the normal feed of the instrument may be restored by adjustment of the working parts.

My improvement is directed particularly to providing an apparatus in which the axis of the sand column may be slanted to a considerable degree and still the axis of the feeding part of the sand column be vertical. It also provides a method of feeding the air which presents no liability of being choked by sand, because sand does not approach the air-chan nel when no current of air is passing through. This instrument also has the ability to be adjusted for feeding sand entirely by gravity if any accident should happen to the air-blast.

Turning now to the drawings, A is a neck, to which is to be fastened the sand-pipe leading from the sand-box, and A is a neck, to which is fastened a pipe leading down in front of the driving-wheels. These necks are hollow and serve to place the interior of the sand-pipe in communication with the interior of the barrel of the apparatus. This barrel consists of a body A and a head A and the body is substantially of a cylindrical form, although it may be barrel-shaped, or, indeed, globular in form. The interior, however, must be symmetrical and in the form of some solid of revolution. The center of the head A in the best form of apparatus is perforated for the passage of the shaft B, on which is screwed a clamping-nut a through which passes a set-screw b, which looks the nut and shaft together.

The walls of the dome are marked O. A hollow journal 0 leads from the air-pipe C, which surrounds theupper outer edge of the interior of the dome and passes through the center of that part of the body A which is opposite to the head A This journal is formed at its end into a conical seat and a neck a, formed in its interior with a counterpart seat, is screwed on the journal C This neck terminates outwardly in a member of a union-joint adapted to be coupled to a pipe leading from an air-pipe of the air-brake apparatus. If the union-joint be loosened and the nut a be also loosened, the shaft B may be revolved by the handle and setin any desired position and there clamped by setting up the unionjoint on neck a and the nut a and fixing the same by screw 1). This will allow the stage E to be horizontal, while the axial line through the necks A A is inclined. For feeding by air-blast the stage E should be horizontal, or nearly so. Suspended from this shaft B and from the air-pipe O by legs e is a stage E, which is perforated in'its center and provided with a lip e at the edge of the perforation. It resemblesvery much in this respect the diaphragm of a steam-globe valve with a raised seat. This lip is marked e. It is not intended to be very high and in no instance is it to extend upward any higher than the lower edge of the wall 0 of the dome already described. It is best to fall a little short of this limit.

Small perforations c at comparatively even intervals in the air-pipe O are made from which air from the air-supply blows down upon the top of the sand upon the stage E and causes a dusty atmosphere in the lower part of the sand-pipe connected with the neck A, which dusty atmosphere will contain more or less sand, according as the air-blast is more or less strong, the greatest quantity of sand being provided when the blast is stronger and the least quantities when it is less. This dusty atmosphere drifts with more or less speed to the front of the drivers, its quantity and force being regulated by the air-supply. No sand, when the stage E is horizontal, is fed by gravity.

A handle D is fastened to the end of th shaft B, and thus furnishes a means of revolving the whole of this interior apparatus within the body A of the device if the clamping of the union-joint and jam-nut are loosened. It thus will be seen that the sand-axis of this apparatus may be placed in almost any position from vertical to an angle of about fortyfive degrees and still have the stage E horizontal, and the operation of the air-blast the same as if the sand-axis through the necks were itself vertical. It is also clear that by tipping this stage so as to allow a direct communication between the necks A and A without the check of the stage E the sand can be fed by gravity, and that this change of attachment is comparatively easy for the engineer to make. The object of the lip e on the inner edge of the stage E is to prevent the sand from being shaken OK the stage E and fed by the action of gravity in consequence of the roughness and tilting of a locomotive when running upon the road. This head is not needed for the purpose of feeding the sand by the air-blast when an engine is stationary or when the apparatus is not liable to shocks and oscillations. The sand descending through the neck A comes upon the top of the dome attached to the shaft 13, which top coincides with the upper part of the pipe 0 and descends along the sides 0' of the dome upon the stage and rests upon it, partially filling the annular basin made by the lip e. The air-blast blowing upon the top of this sand causes it to rise and pass the edge of the lip and so on down through the lower neck A to the point of use.

Fig. 3 shows a modified form of this same apparatus, in which the internal parts are in fixed relation with the body of the apparatus.

As there is a difterencein the shell, it is lettered a little difierently, A constituting one part of the shell, to which the air-pipe and dome are attached. In this the plug which forms the top of the dome is lettered C the lower part of the shell or body is lettered A, and the coupling-ring, which fastens these parts together, is lettered A. The two necks A A are identical in the two forms of the apparatus. The shell A A A is the exact equivalent of the shell A A and the stage, lip, dome, and air-pipe are, in all respects, identical in the two forms of apparatus, having merely slight diiterences in form.

In this apparatus the air-blast can be applied so strongly as to' feed a column of sand as large and as fast as would be fed by gravity through a pipe the size of the hole in the stage E, and the feed may be varied by moderating the blast down to nothing.

The size of the hole in the stage E is the governing measure of the other parts of the apparatus. It should be of about the area of the sand-pipe. If it be less, the extra size of the sand-pipe will not increase the sand-supply. If it be greater, it may be wasteful of air.

to insure the sand falling well back from the edge of the hole. The sand-channel outside of the dome should be of nearly twice the area of the hole in the stage, or even larger, to insure a free and full deposit of sand on the stage E. The area of the passage from the sand-channel without the dome to the stage within the dome between the lower edge of the depending wall 0' and the stage should The diameter of the dome should be. about twice as large as this hole in the stage,

be rather larger than the hole through the stage E. Such proportionate sizes of parts will be due and regular, properly economical of material, and giving efiicient results. If the area of the dome be too small, the quantity of sand exposed to blast will be too small. If it be too large, the sand-feed will not be increased materially. If the sand-channel around the walls of the dome be too small, it would perhaps choke. If too large, it would not add to the rapidity of feed.

One thing must be guarded against. The sand must not be trapped by making the lower edge of the walls 0' of the dome and the upper edge of the lip 6 pass each other, for this will throw too much labor on the air-blast. I have represented them as on a level, but in practice there may be a clearance and will be from wear very soon if the lip is made too high.

Stones not properly sifted from the sand can be dumped in the form shown in Fig. 1, or may be removed by taking out the head A".

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. In alocomotive track-sanding apparatus, the combination of a hollow body having two necks, one for attachment to the sand-pipe leading from the sand-box and the other for attachment to the sand-pipe leading in front of the driving-wheels, and an interior dome with depending walls, outside of which dome and within the cavity of the body is a sandchannel, and with a stage E, provided with a lip upon its inner edge, which lip does not extend above the lower edge of the depending wall of the dome and is of less diameter than the wall of the dome, and with an airpipe within the dome connected with a source of air-supply under pressure, said air-pipe 0 being perforated with holes for the passage of air upon its under side, as and for the purposes described.

2. In a locomotive track-sanding apparatus, the combination of a body having the interior form of a solid of revolution,which body is provided with two necks, one for connection with the sand-pipe leading from the sandbox of alocomotive andthe other for connection with the sand-pipe leading in front of the driving-wheels, with the shaft 13, hollow journal 0 perforated air-pipe O, and dome provided with depending walls 0, the whole being adapted to be adjustable to and clamped at any angle with the axis of the necks A A, substantially as described.

3. In alocomotive track-sanding apparatus, the combination of a body having the interior form of a solid of revolution and provided with two necks, one for attachment to the sand-pipe leading from the sand-box and the other for attachment to the sand-pipe leading in front of the driving-wheels, and an interior stage-dome, perforated air-pipe delivering air to the interior of the dome, and a shaft B, and a hollow journal 0 adapted to be connected with a source of air-supply under pressure, and the whole being adj ustable within the interior of the body and to be clamped in any position therein by means substantially as described.

CHARLES W. SHERBURNE.

Witnesses:

THos. WM. CLARKE, J; M. DOLAN. 

